Fort Dix Suspects Still Promoting Jihad...From Their Jail Cells
December 12, 2007
Remember the Fort Dix terror cell that was broken up back in May? Govrnment officials say the men accused in the plot have been continuing to promote jihad in jail. Here's more:
Federal authorities say one of the men accused of planning an attack on soldiers at the Fort Dix army base gave another inmate in a federal detention center an Al Qaeda recruitment video and another wrote a note referring to the fight "we weren't able to finish."
The U.S. Attorney's Office made the allegations in a brief filed in U.S. District Court late Tuesday to oppose the suspects' request to be granted bail.
A lawyer for one of the men said the government is misrepresenting an incident in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.
Of course! It's all a big misunderstanding.
The suspects contend that the detention center staff has not allowed them adequate access to evidence in the case against them as they prepare for trial. That is why they have asked a judge to either allow them to be free on bail or come up with alternate arrangements to allow them to review materials for the trial, which is scheduled to begin March 24...In the legal filing, the government said Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer gave another inmate a copy of an Al Qaeda-produced DVD last month. Guards found the disc in a book in the detention center's law library.
Government lawyers said in the filing that "the fact the defendant Shnewer and, perhaps, his co-conspirators may be spreading jihadist recruitment videos to other inmates clearly raises grave security concerns for the warden, and, again, supports the reasonableness of continued administrative detention for these defendants."
Shnewer's lawyer, Rocco Cipparone, said Shnewer told him 10 days or so ago about the incident. But Cipparone said Shnewer did not give the other inmate the video. Rather, he said, Shnewer was upset that the man somehow got hold of evidence that only the defendants in the case were supposed to see.
The government also said that suspect Eljvir Duka and another inmate were passing notes.
In one note, the government said, Duka wrote, "Now you see why we were going to sacrifice all for the sake of Allah in jihad" and referred to the fight "we weren't able to finish."
The government said detention center staff confronted Duka about the notes. According to the filing, he acknowledged he was passing them but said they only dealt with "issues such as the quality of the food" behind bars.
We have his word on it, I'm sure.
STAKELBECK ON TERROR Main Page >>
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
